


(Selfie) King and I

by literaryempress



Category: How to Get Away with Murder
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, College Football, F/M, Football, Instagram, Jealousy, M/M, Male-Female Friendship, Relationship Advice, School Reunion, Selfies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-24
Updated: 2016-01-24
Packaged: 2018-05-15 22:35:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5802856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/literaryempress/pseuds/literaryempress
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Connor Walsh and Michaela Pratt are graduates from Yale University attending one of their reunion football games. The same two individuals who used to be willing to claw at each other's throats develop an understanding friendship in the stands, reminiscing the ice cream nights and sharing relationship advice.</p>
            </blockquote>





	(Selfie) King and I

“You can’t seem to be any later, can you?” Connor groaned through his cell phone, leaning against a tall street light on the sidewalk as he waited for Michaela to arrive.

Connor never wanted to admit it out loud to anyone, specifically the people he worked with on a day-to-day basis, but Michaela was his best friend. They had been inseparable since their sophomore year of college, despite the fact that they had been biting each other’s heads off just to be in the top tier of their graduating class. Something about their freshman-year criminology class brought them closer together. Connor wasn’t exactly sure what it was, but he could thank Professor Gale a ton for it.

What Connor didn’t know as he contacted his fellow alumna was that Michaela was near his destination. Michaela’s adoptive father had gotten her a car as a graduation present, and ever since she got it, she did literally everything she could to take care of it and worship it. Of course, according to Michaela’s agenda nowadays, that included getting quality photos in her so-called sweet ride.

“On the contrary,” Michaela spoke through her bluetooth, applying eyeliner to her eyes, “I’m fashionably on time. See a frost white Audi A3 around you?” The eyebrow over her left eye inched up as a smirk formed on her face.

Connor craned his neck and looked both directions from where he stood. It was the beginning of June – the worst time to wear long sleeves, but Michaela insisted that it was better to be safe than sorry when it came to health and well being. Connor called bullshit on that, stating that the duo could have brought a jacket with them, but Michaela wasn’t taking any chances.

To Connor’s left, he noticed the car Michaela had described near the corner of the street and rolled his eyes. “Don’t tell me you’re fixing your face in there.”

“I’m making a good impression,” Michaela argued.

“For a football game?”

“I don’t usually attend games like you do,” Michaela stated. “The only reason I’m going to this one is because now, I’ll actually have someone I can sit next to and not have an awkward interaction with.”

Connor smirked. “Or maybe because a certain linebacker is going to make a grand appearance.”

Michaela rolled her eyes. “Okay, fine. Maybe I have a little attraction to someone we graduated with, but it probably doesn’t matter anyway. He could have a girlfriend or…well, something more serious.”

“Someone sounds jealous.”

“I’m not jealous; I’m keeping my options open.”

It was Connor’s turn to roll his eyes. Sometimes it was hard for Michaela to admit things – hell, Connor had the same issue himself. That didn’t dispute how much he cared about the girl, though. Ever since Michaela found out that Yale University linebacker Kale Wentworth didn’t show much interest her, a part of Michaela was desperately searching for someone who would.

That, of course, took the majority of Michaela’s junior year of college, when she started going to bars frequently, sometimes drinking away the rejection she was feeling inside. If not Michaela’s apartment mate, Laurel Castillo, Connor would end up receiving calls from the drunk and hopeless woman, asking for a ride home. Connor wasn’t exactly sure if it was because he felt actual pity for the girl or if he just wanted to shut her up, but he made it a habit of purchasing some ice cream – cookies and cream, Michaela’s favorite – for the duo to share while Michaela continuously complained about her dates of the week.

Connor hoped, sooner or later, that Michaela would find someone to be in a relationship – and one that would treat her right, too, because as much as he kinda liked having casual, often-drunken conversations at three in the morning, it was messing up his sleep schedule, and his budget was a little low to be buying nine to ten cartons of ice cream every month.

Michaela put her eyeliner away and started to grab her mascara when she felt a presence outside of her car. “Alright, Miss America,” she heard Connor say, applying a couple of strokes of mascara to her lashes, “I never agreed to watching you pamper yourself in favor of missing a football game.”

“You couldn’t give me another fifteen seconds?”

“Fifteen seconds can turn into fifteen minutes real quick.”

Michaela rolled her eyes after she applied the rest of her mascara. “In your early twenties, and you still can’t speak proper English.”

Connor shrugged. “Some things never change, I guess.” He stepped to the side as Michaela got out of her car, grabbing her purse and jacket in the process. “I’m surprised you actually wanted to wear matching clothes today,” he commented. “We were never like that in college. How do you think people are gonna…look at us?”

With a beep of her car, Michaela linked her left arm with Connor’s right, almost dragging him back across the street. “I don’t know.” She paused. “Two successful graduate students desperately willing to rule the judicial system, perhaps?”

A smile spread across her face. It had always been Michaela’s dream to be a lawyer. When she was a little kid, she would watch the court shows with her mother and become fascinated with the process of practicing law and order. She wanted to do what those people did – hopefully better. After attending Yale University, Michaela started attending graduate school in Pennsylvania, where she hoped to learn the best from the best. Her classes went well in her freshman year, and she hoped it would stay that way until she went across the stage for her diploma for the fourth and most important time in her life.

Connor chuckled. “I don’t think the judicial system would want to see us argue back and forth if one of us were to play the prosecutor.”

“We never worked too well before, I’ll admit,” Michaela stated, the duo still walking over to the line of people going through the gate to the stands. “I blame the only-child syndrome.”

“The _only-child_ syndrome?” Connor teased.

“Didn’t have any brothers or sisters growing up – or, at least, any that I know of – and that granted me the opportunity to receive all of the lectures, luxury, and love my caretakers could provide for me.” A beat passed. “I heard something like that in my psychology class. Studies show that individuals who don’t have siblings, in fact, receive higher IQ’s and make high achievements.”

“Bullshit. I have the IQ of Einstein’s son, and I have a sister.”

“Not in quite of an understanding of which one you’re referring to,” Michaela replied, “but I’ll take your word for it.”

Connor shook his head, and a smile creeped on his face. Having Michaela as a friend definitely had its perks.

The duo stood in line for a good fifteen minutes, looking around at all of the alumni students in their Yale University gear, some of them looking way older than expected. Yale was a big deal, though. Connor especially would like to think that he made it here out of sheer luck of some sorts – or that whatever he did in high school seemed to work.

Michaela had pulled out her phone, observing the eight people in front of her before turning around towards Connor. “Come here,” she beckoned. “Take a photo with me.”

Connor frowned, but then a chuckle escaped his lips. “I didn’t peg you for the mainstream type.”

“I can taste success four years away,” Michaela cheered with a wide smile on her face. She giggled at Connor’s eyeroll at Michaela’s clear exaggeration in her voice. “No, really, I want to savor this moment.”

“Savor standing in line for a game?”

“One day I’ll never see you again, Connor.” Michaela pouted. “What am I gonna do then? After probably ten years of making new friends and associates, someone’s gonna ask me about my old friends from college, and then I’m going to draw a couple of blanks.” She paused. “Besides you, Laurel, and number 48 are the only photogenic people I know, and I only contact two-thirds of you. You know this.”

Michaela’s words started to seep into Connor’s mind. He didn’t think about the last day he would ever see her. Before befriending his fellow classmate, getting in touch with his softer side, and eventually finding a boyfriend in Oliver Hampton from the University of New Haven, Connor didn’t really care whether or not people would remember him. He didn’t have low self esteem about himself, but he didn’t see the point in the idea of being remembered. Hell, before, he didn’t even have legit friends who would remember him in the first place.

This felt different. His former competitor in life is now his friend – his _best_ friend. Who would have thought the person you were trying to knock off the stand ends up being the same person you’d on-purposely match clothes with to a reunion football game?

As much as Connor hated taking selfies – despite having a shit ton of photos of him and Oliver in their king-sized bed – he agreed to do one with Michaela anyway. He felt awkward standing behind the petite girl, watching her arm extend out in front of her as her rose gold iPhone’s camera adjusted in front of them. All the family reunions he had gone to, yet none of them had him mentally and spiritually prepared.

He barely had the time to fix his own face when Michaela snapped the first photo. “Hey, take it easy. I wasn’t ready.”

Michaela brought the phone closer to her eyes and observed the photo on her screen. “Not bad,” she stated, showing Connor the picture.

“You’re kidding, right?” Connor asked incredulously, pointing to his face. “My eyes were half closed, and you know it.”

Both of Michaela’s eyes inched up on her forehead. “Someone’s a little vexed.” She pointed out, and Connor’s eyes fell upon the clouds above, calling out to literally every god there was up there to keep him sane for the next few seconds. Within that time, a chuckle escaped Michaela’s glossy lips. “Come on, again.”

And they took another selfie together, one that Connor secretly enjoyed this time. Then again, to Michaela, it wasn’t much of a secret at all. Connor was full of himself most of the time. It’s like everywhere he went, he expected a mirror to be there so he could snap his fingers in it and smooth back his brunet hair.

“You happy now?” Connor let out once Michaela tapped out of the camera app.

“Not yet.” Michaela’s thumb moved swiftly across the screen as she pulled up the Instagram app. “Just gonna post this.”

“Like hell, you are.”

“You know you liked it,” Michaela teased, slapping a hand against Connor’s arm.

“Not enough for the rest of the world to see.”

Michaela scoffed. “And _Oliver_ said you were macho. Guess he’s gonna have second thoughts, am I right?” Another grin appeared on her face as she started typing out a caption for the photo: _My twin is better than yours_.

Connor frowned. “Wait, what do you mean?” He was honestly confused as ever. Had Oliver and Michaela been talking that much? “And seriously? What’s with the boy-girl emoji? And…what, #allhailatyale? The hell is that?”

Michaela said nothing further as she posted the photo, placed her phone back in her purse, and pulled out her ticket money. Connor sighed and decided to whip out his wallet, grabbing a couple of dollar bills and waiting to go through the security guards before them. The duo received gold paper wrist bands before walking further into the gates towards the stands. Michaela walked up some steps that led to the midsection of the stands, locating a perfect seat to watch the game, and Connor followed suit.

Before the game started, Connor pulled out his phone and went to his Instagram. He received a notification that Michaela tagged him in the recent photo of them. After hesitating for a moment about viewing the photo again – and possibly some comments underneath – Connor tapped on the photo and observed it once more. He’ll admit that Michaela knows how to take photos with perfect lighting and very perfect camera angles. How she mastered that skill in between working for years at Yale and then Middleton University, Connor wasn’t exactly sure.

Below the photo’s caption, Connor noticed that a few comments started flooding in. Michaela had a great amount of followers compared to Connor – must be the sexual appeal, Connor guesses. One of the first ones Connor sees is from _ashwithcash_ – Asher Millstone, their Criminal Law 100 classmate at Middleton.

 _Dayum son, got a taste of the rainbow and the chocolate chip_. The numerous amount of clapping and one-hundred emojis were beyond ridiculous.

“I rest my case.” Connor heard Michaela say, which made the older man flinch a bit.

“What do you mean?”

Michaela smirked. “You were worried for nothing. They’re loving it.”

Connor scoffed. “Yeah, and Asher thinks we’re some new thing or whatever.”

The petite girl rolled her eyes. “Of course. Asher’s heart is in the right place, but his mind is on a whirlwind adventure.”

“Understatement of the year. This is Asher we’re talking about.” The two shared a laugh before they heard commotion come from their right, and a group of Yale University football players ran out all at once. Connor immediately began to howl and cheer as they all started to prepare themselves for the big game.

Michaela diverted her eyes away from the players and noticed a man to her left walk up the steps to a seat about four rows below her. Following him was a woman about Michaela’s age – blonde and beautiful as ever – taking the man’s hand and carefully walking to her seat in shiny, black boots. Kale Wentworth’s girlfriend was definitely a very lucky girl.

“Someone’s getting distracted,” Connor noticed once he followed Michaela’s gaze.

Michaela shook her head free of her inner thoughts and turned back to Connor. “It’s fine.” She paused to take a silent deep breath. “He deserves to be happy. And I’m happy for him, alright?”

Connor bit down on his bottom lip. He knew very well that Michaela was not okay. Between wanting to get with Kale throughout her time at Yale to her failed relationship with Aiden Walker to the many times she went out on club dates only to get shot down or for her to recognize something she didn’t like, Connor could conclude that Michaela was a very lonely girl. That only-child syndrome she brought up earlier especially didn’t help at all, even if it made her as intelligent as she is.

They both turned their heads in silence and watched the players sit on the benches in front of the fence. As they conversed with their coach, a group of cheerleaders in navy blue and white leotards and skirts skipped out with their pom-poms in each hand.

“I thought about cheerleading once.” Connor finally heard Michaela say, and he turned his head back to her in shock. “It’s kind of hard to believe because I’m not usually one of those…preppy, ball-of-sunshine type of girls on a daily basis, and I really don’t understand some of their methods of communication, but…well, I figured that it would actually get me noticed.”

Connor nodded. Although he himself, before anyways, didn’t care about being remembered, he sure did understand those who just wanted to be noticed. “And then what?”

There was a three- to five-second pause before Michaela let out a laugh, and it would have startled Connor like crazy if she didn’t reply to his question. “Those girls are too good for me,” she giggled. “How do they even manage to get to class without breaking a leg off?”

Okay, Connor will have to admit that that was pretty funny.

“You would have never pulled it off,” he agreed.

“Exactly,” Michaela replied. The two laughed for a couple moments more before their laughs ceased. “Wearing the crisp uniforms and the cute hair-dos would have been nice, though. However, after being realistic about it, it’s just not my thing.”

Connor nodded, but his mind started to drift back to Michaela’s previous behavior. It was clear that she was the least bit jealous of what another girl had, what Michaela could have had. She wasn’t wrong about it, either; Michaela deserved a good guy like Kale. Maybe she deserved someone better even. That whole fish in the sea thing was too true the more Connor thought about it. He’s experienced it first-hand, but not in the way he wants Michaela to. Sex can give her all the pleasure she could hope for, but it was definitely not going to last.

Michaela turned towards Connor, a concerned look starting to show on her own face, mirroring Connor’s. He gulped for a second and said, “you know you can get any guy you want, right?”

“It’s not that simple,” Michaela confessed, slumping her shoulders. “You know, it –“ She sighed. “I’ve always looked up to my mother’s achievements, and for years, I wanted to prove to her that I can be as great as she is.” Connor nodded. “She had the perfect guy, the perfect job, a perfect house –“

“A perfect kid?” Connor interrupted with a chuckle.

“Not exactly, but I’ll take your word for it.” Connor shrugged for a moment before allowing Michaela to continue. “It was simpler around her time, when society wasn’t focused on too many expectations. She found someone who didn’t care what she looked like or what she did, and they spent summer nights watching old movies and drinking apple cider and playing fort games.” Michaela sighed again. “I want something like that, something that will mean something, you know?”

Connor understood what she meant. After finding out about his boyfriend’s feelings for him, he understood all of the little things in life that could very well mean something bigger. A stupid Facebook status change or baking cookies in the kitchen sounded lame at the time, but the more Connor and Oliver did, the more he liked it. Settling down a bit didn’t sound like too much of a bad idea after all.

Michaela hesitated for a moment to continue speaking, but when she did, it took Connor by surprise, like she was inside of Connor’s head or something. “Sometimes I think about you and Oliver’s relationship, and I often ask myself how someone like you even does it.” She shrugged. “Before, I thought you were just the guy who sought all of the sex, you know?”

Connor bit the inside of his cheek, staring down at his lap. “Uh, yeah,” he explained. “I mean, I was. I wasn’t into all of that lovey-dovey stuff before.” Michaela nodded, recalling the many times Connor rejected talking to anyone about his and Oliver’s relationship outside of classes. “I kinda felt bad after I cheated on him, to be honest. I didn’t even know we were a thing at the time; I wasn’t getting the right signals.”

Michaela smirked but nodded. “I guess we both need work on relationships, don’t we?”

“Hey, I’m getting better, alright?”

“I believe you.” Michaela dismissed with a wave and a laugh. Connor joined in on the laughter this time but ceased to sincerely look her in the eye.

“It’s just, well,” Connor continued, “you have all of this other stuff you wanna do, Michaela, and that sounds kinda better than getting drunk at bars every night after getting your heart broken once, don’t you think?” Michaela frowned but continued to listen. “I mean, we both got out of Yale, going to graduate school, becoming lawyers…” He shrugged. “Maybe the day you meet your dream guy, that’ll be on some kind of relationship resume or something. Who knows?”

Michaela let out a heartfelt laugh. “A relationship _resume_?”

Connor smirked. “Hey, I mean, you have to let ‘em know what you’re made of, right?”

It didn’t occur to Michaela before – or recently; she’s not sure which – but Connor is right. Sure, there are other people in relationships around her, and Michaela will often become the jealous type after some time, but she’s succeeding in every other aspect around her. From the beauty to the brains, Michaela didn’t really have to be jealous of anyone. The next guy she walks to next will be the luckiest damn guy on the planet.

“That’s really considerate of you to say,” Michaela responded, pressing her lips together. “It really means a lot.”

Connor nodded, and the two looked straight ahead as the two teams on the field were getting ready to play. Before anything happened, though, Connor spoke up again. “Though I am gonna miss out on those random _ice cream at three in the morning_ moments.”

“They can still happen, if you’re willing to keep up with my energy levels while drunk off my ass,” Michaela laughed.

“Just not on school nights again,” Connor warned. “Annalise Keating’s stressing us all out, and we’re not even in our forties yet.”

“Not a chance.”

A buzzer went off, interrupting the two’s conversation, and that’s when a man over the intercom declared the start of the game. That was when Michaela, Connor, and everyone else on Yale’s side of the field started cheering, expecting to see one of the greatest games of the summer.

A few minutes passed before Connor pulled his phone out of his pocket and tapped on the camera app, putting it in selfie mode and holding his phone out for Michaela to see. “I thought you weren’t into the selfies anymore,” Michaela teased.

“Savoring the moment, remember?”

“During a football game?”

Connor shook his head and smirked. “Not today, Ms. Pratt. Not today.”

**Author's Note:**

> This technically isn't my first HTGAWM fanfiction story, but this is the first one that I've published to AO3. I have two other WIPs for this fandom that I planned on publishing here, but they kept on getting sidelined in favor of the stories I write for the Shameless fandom. I wanted to contribute something more to the HTGAWM fandom because I feel like I've been slacking lately, and Jack and Aja's Instagram photos gave me the inspiration to do this.
> 
> I hope you guys enjoyed it. If any of you would like to talk or send prompts, my [Tumblr ask](http://promqueen-and-hairgel.tumblr.com/ask) is always open.


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